They Ought To Have A License
by HeroWorshiper
Summary: Roy and Johnny are offered by circumstance an opportunity to explore issues related to domestic violence.  Neither man welcomes this fatalistic offering, and both men try to cope while providing care for their victims.  Warning! Scenes of child abuse.
1. Chapter 1

**They Ought To Have A License**

**Chapter 1**

It was a warm sunny day, much like any other in L.A. County. The paramedics of County Fire Station 51 had spent the morning responding on various miscellaneous calls. There had been the small structure fire where a young boy had started his parents shed ablaze by experimenting with matches. Johnny and Roy treated the youngster for minor burns, and transported him for minor smoke inhalation.

Next had been a response for a woman down in a shopping center, which turned out to be a slip and fall at the local supermarket. After packaging the victim, Roy and Johnny had left her in the capable hands of the Mayfair EMT's.

The two paramedics had responded on a sprained ankle for a college student who had tripped over a sprinkler head while running through the nearby park. The medics again bandaged up the wounded limb, and turned their patient over to the EMT crew from the responding ambulance.

Next the boys responded to a lonely little old woman who had hyperventilated when her small dog had escaped from her yard. A quick puppy re-capture, and a brown paper sack were employed and again the first responders were free to leave the scene.

Next there was a false alarm which sounded intriguing, something about a woman trapped in a restroom, but it had been canceled before the squad got close enough to even follow up on scene. Subsequently to the cancelation, the medics of 51 were called to a lower income property for a child trapped. Arriving on scene the men found a seven year old boy who had somehow managed to wedge himself between the two rows of washing machines in the complex Laundromat. A little light problem solving and the child had been retrieved unharmed, and again Johnny and Roy were headed back to the station.

As Roy drove the squad in the direction of station 51, Johnny lazily dangled his arm out the passenger's side winder letting the wind blow through his hair as he leaned slightly out the opening. The breeze felt good, and he began to realize the tedium of the routine runs of the morning was dulling his senses. Neither man spoke of the monotonous, but relatively sane pace their morning had offered fearing by speaking of the easy morning they'd somehow anger the mythical fire gods, and the afternoon might turn out to be far more exciting than they'd prefer. The pair simply traveled in companionable silence wishing things would slow down further and allow them some time at the station where hopefully they'd actually get to eat an entire meal undisturbed by the tones and klaxon.

* * *

><p>Two fair skinned small eleven year old girls sat sullenly in the shade of a protective tree. The two were prone to sunburn, and having been banished to the outdoors by their foster mother with a dire warning they had better not get sun burned, there was little else for them to do but cower in the meager shade allowed by an old Red Bud tree. It was warm for a Southern California June day, and one of the exceptionally thin girls lamented to the other that she would really like a drink of water. The other child looked at her sister in silence, both knowing they'd have to scamper across the hot sunny yard to the garden hose hoping that Mother wouldn't see them as they ran, or hear the water as it was turned on for what would likely be a warm drink from the garden hose. "I'm not that thirsty." The second child said as she began gathering up the dried beans from under the tree. "Here Anna, lets peel these and pretend we're making them for dinner." She suggested to her twin. The pods from the tree were dried and when cracked open they yielded small black seeds. Though inedible, the children sometimes found them entertaining in the long hours they were often forced to sit under the tree.<p>

"Abby, I'm thirsty." The first child again complained to her sister. "It's hot out here."

"I know Anna." Abby said licking her thin dry lips. "Wouldn't it be nice if we could have some ice water like Mother? She always keeps that glass of water on the kitchen counter, and it looks good, doesn't it?" Abby said wistfully.

Both children knew that their foster Mother kept a tall recycled jelly jar filled with ice water on the kitchen counter next to the sink. They had walked by it often enough on hot days, and both could easily visualize the frosty glass dripping with cool condensation.

Anna licked her lips again. "I drink it sometimes when I go by." She admitted to her twin.

"What?" Abby said, obviously scandalized and horrified. "Anna, do you know what she'd do to you if she caught you?" Abby hadn't even considered tasting the water, no matter how it looked. She knew the brutality of their foster mother, and tried to avoid arousing the woman's anger whenever possible.

Both girls knew they'd be beaten for such an infringement. It wouldn't matter which of them had committed the sin, they would both be assumed guilty and beaten.

"I always fill it back with water to the same level it was before I had some. She'll just figure the ice melted is all, if she even notices the difference." Anna said. She was unrepentant. Anna didn't understand why the twins were consigned to drink warm water from the bathroom sink or sneak water from the outside hose when other's in the house could have ice water from the refrigerator. Anna figured what Mother didn't know wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Anna, she's gonna catch you some day, and she'll beat us both." Abby lamented.

Both scrawny children sat in sullen silence for a while, small gnats and flies buzzing around them in the mid day heat. As time dragged on Abby decided to again attempt to interest her sister in the bean game and hopefully occupy them and make time pass more quickly. Maybe Mother would call them in for some lunch soon and she'd give them something to drink with their meal.

"Here Anna" Abby said handing her sister a hand full of dried pods. "Let's see who can peel the biggest pile of beans before Mother calls us in for lunch."

"You know she'll be mad if she catches us doing this, right?" the other little girl said accepting the beans from her twin.

"Well, we can just drop them along the fence when we are done. She'll never know. We have to do something while we are sitting out here." Abby said as she began to disassemble the bean pods.

In a while the two girls heard their foster mother screaming for them through the kitchen window. Both girls hurriedly dropped the evidence of their game along the fence line behind the shed where they had been hiding in the shade, and ran for the house before the woman became enraged at them for taking too long to respond to her summons.

* * *

><p>After a rather tedious but steady morning of calls, the paramedics of station 51 arrived in quarters just in time for lunch. It was a hot day, and both were eager to embrace the cool air conditioned comfort of the day room while they enjoyed their noon meal. Johnny strolled into the kitchen sniffing the air appreciatively. "Mmmmm, what smells so wonderful?" he inquired of the chef de jour Marco Lopez.<p>

Marco tuned his gaze from the counter where he was putting the final preparations on lunch. "Hey amigo, lunch is almost ready. I've made a nice gazpacho soup and smoked tuna salad sandwiches for lunch. Fix you and Roy some iced tea and have a seat. I'm about ready to dish everything up." He said.

Johnny stepped over to the kitchen counter to examine the tuna salad Marco was preparing. "Oooooh Marco, is that some of the tuna you and your brother caught on your day off?" He inquired.

"Si, we caught it and smoked it ourselves. I thought you guys might enjoy some." Marco replied as he wiped the counter top where he had been slicing vegetables.

Johnny rubbed his hands together with anticipatory glee and turned as if to head for the cupboard to withdraw glasses to pour the tea as suggested by Marco.

Roy, who had come into the kitchen just behind Johnny, said "I'll get that partner, you have a seat." And taking the glasses from the cabinet, he strolled over to the refrigerator and filled two glasses with ice and tea bringing them back to the kitchen table where he handed one to Johnny.

"Thanks Pally." Johnny said gratefully accepting the frosty glass, and taking a long blissfully cool drink of the refreshing liquid. "Aaaahhhh…that's so good." He said flicking his tongue across his lips to rescue any stray droplets of the cooling beverage.

Soon the other men of the company joined their paramedics at the table and a delicious lunch was served and consumed along with copious amounts of refreshing iced tea. Mercifully, the fire Gods were kind to the crew of station 51, and lunch passed undisturbed.

* * *

><p>Scrambling into the kitchen from outside, Anna and Abby quietly slipped into their places at the kitchen table. Mother had prepared Vienna sausage sandwiches for them on white bread with mustard. Each girl received half the can of room temperature sausage sliced on their sandwich and each plate held half a small can of shoestring potatoes chips. There were 12 ounce tumblers of iced Hawaiian punch at each plate, and the girls eagerly dug into their noon meal.<p>

The children ate at the table alone with the adult towering over them sipping her glass of ice water at the kitchen counter. She rarely ate at the table with these two unless her husband was around preferring to have her lunch alone after she'd sent them away. She watched as the pathetic creatures gobbled up the food she'd given them, even stopping to lick their little fingers and dab at every crumb on the plates. With a disgusted expression she sneered at the two girls screaming "stop eating like animals" and she grabbed the blade of the case knife she'd used to spread mustard and whacked the handle of the instrument onto the nearest child's unsuspecting skull.

"You're done!" she screamed at the girls. "Get out of my sight! Go to your room, and I'd better not hear you fighting." She threatened menacingly as the two girls tried desperately to swallow every drop of their Hawaiian punch and ice, while fleeing from the table before another blow could fall on one of them.

* * *

><p>The men of station 51 settled themselves comfortably in the day room to chat and read magazines after a cool and deliciously satisfying lunch. Chet, who had drawn kitchen cleanup for the day set about clearing the lunch dishes from the table. Comfortable conversation drifted between the firemen as they awaited their next call.<p>

The first call to come was again for the paramedics. They were sent out to a child down call. The men dashed to the squad and sped into a warm early summer afternoon toward an address that turned out to be a day care center. Upon arriving on scene Johnny and Roy found they would be dealing with a child who had slipped from the top of the monkey bars and fallen to the gravel below. The child had sustained a scalp laceration, and a probable broken wrist. Vitals were taken, the wrist splinted, and the head wound was bandaged. The day care called the child's mother, and the paramedics departed for Rampart with their charge in tow assured that a parent would meet them at the Emergency Room.

Johnny rode in the ambulance with the young girl they had rescued. She was a small thing, with big brown eyes. They'd had to immobilize her on a backboard with a cervical collar as a precaution, and the miserable and terrified child stared up at the paramedic with frightened big brown eyes. His heart melted, and he comforted the little girl as the ambulance hurtled toward Rampart. Johnny spent time holding her little hand, and telling her stories until he had her smiling shyly at him. By the time the ambulance backed into Rampart, the child was much more interactive, and though still somewhat worried, she seemed to have calmed significantly.

"We're going to take you on a little ride now." Johnny soothed as he hopped from the back of the ambulance and began to slide the gurney out after him.

"Where are we going Johnny?" the sweet little voice asked timidly from the backboard.

Johnny smiled down at the child saying "there's a really good Doctor inside here, and he's gonna make you feel better." And he patted her little hand comfortingly.

Johnny continued to talk to the child as they wheeled her into the exam room. When Dr. Early entered the room Johnny introduced the child to him, and after the child seemed comfortable Johnny left the room. In the hallway Roy could be seen speaking calmly with a woman Johnny was certain was the child's mother.

After getting the mother situated in the waiting room the two paramedics found themselves at the nurses' station sipping coffee. They re-stocked their drug box, and as Dixie signed them out the conversation turned to their young patient.

"What a sweet kid." Johnny remarked. He told Dixie and Roy of the journey in with the child, and speculated on her probable prognosis.

"Well, she'll be just fine." Dr. Early said as he stepped up to the nurse's station near the end of Johnny's remarks. "She has a broken wrist, a mild concussion, and I put six stitches in that scalp laceration. But, she's going to completely recover, and her Mother is with her now."

"Well all right!" Johnny said with obvious pleasure. He really loved it when it felt like he was able to offer some small comfort to a patient, especially when that patient happened to be a frightened child. So often, and Johnny knew from experience, children would end up hurt with little comfort to be found in their own little worlds or private hells as the case sometimes could be. Today's run was one to put in the win column as far as Johnny was concerned, and he took a moment to revel in the triumph.

Roy could see the satisfied glee in his partner's eyes. Somehow, when their runs dealt with injured children, Johnny always seemed to feel more strongly. Roy too was glad this run with this child was one of those times they could both walk away knowing they'd helped ease suffering for at least this one frightened injured child. Slapping his partner happily on the back Roy said "Good deal!" Then turning to Dr. Early and Dixie he said "We gotta go guys. Keep us updated on her progress?"

The medical professionals nodded their agreement, and wished the paramedics a good afternoon as the two uniformed men strode lightly out of the Emergency Department.


	2. Chapter 2

**They Ought To Have A License**

**Chapter 2**

On the way back to the station, Roy and Johnny were summoned to another child down call. Flipping on the lights and siren, Roy glanced over to Johnny saying "must be our afternoon for kids, huh?"

Roy knew his partner's sensitivity to injured children, and somehow always harbored a bit of concern, and curiosity around Johnny's intensity in this area of rescue. Roy too was particularly sensitive to rescues involving children, but felt his sensibilities were likely heightened because he after all had two children of his own, and any injury to a child caused visions of his own two to dance in front of Roy's mind's eye. But Johnny was a single man, with no kids of his own to transfer images on to, and yet Johnny was often visibly shaken by children's injuries and mishaps.

For his part, Johnny slipped into his helmet, noted the information on a call slip and with twitching jaw muscles denoting clenched teeth he began to direct his partner and the squad through treacherous afternoon L.A. traffic. He offered no reply to Roy's remark, yet he was touched at the concern he knew the comment expressed. Roy had really never asked him directly why Johnny felt so strongly about injured children and Johnny preferring to keep most of his personal experiences private hadn't offered. He knew some day he'd have occasion to share some of his stories with his partner, but Johnny was grateful that day had yet to arrive, and also that Roy hadn't pressed him for the information Johnny was sure Roy was likely curious to know.

The squad arrived on scene to find a police car already present. Quickly disembarking from the squad, Johnny grabbed the drug box and Biophone from the side compartment as Roy hurried around the vehicle. Roy took the Biophone from his partner, and both men strode briskly to the front door of a dilapidated house. From inside the residence could be heard the angry screams of a woman and the deep baritone voice of the police officer the paramedics recognized as Vince Howard.

Entering the residence, the medics were appalled at the deplorable sanitary conditions of the home. Every conceivable surface was covered in clothing of questionable cleanliness, garbage, and filth. Vince and his partner were subduing an obviously distraught woman between them. As the paramedics approached Vince directed them into a room to his right with a curt nod of his head, and "the child is in the bathroom."

"What have we got?" Roy inquired over his shoulder, taking the lead as the men stepped in the direction the officer had indicated.

"Little boy. He's in the tub. Mother says he slipped, but the informant that contacted us suggests things might not be as simple as we are being led to believe." Vince replied glancing at the restrained women next to him.

Before turning back to look into the bathroom Roy caught a glimpse of his partner's gloomy expression. Johnny looked thoroughly upset. His dark eyes appeared as hard as quartz and his unwavering gaze seemed to search out the as yet unseen victim.

Entering the bathroom the paramedics found a young dark skinned boy naked in the bath tub. The child was slumped in a semi reclined position in the tub, obviously unconscious. Roy handed Johnny the Biophone, and quickly began to examine the child. His initial patient survey found the child unresponsive to pain, with shallow respiration and a rapid weak pulse. There was a large bump on the back of the boy's skull with minimal bleeding and the boy's pupils were slightly dilated and reacted sluggishly to light.

Roy relayed his findings to Johnny who spoke in a smooth professional tone to Rampart. Orders for treatment were given, and Johnny easily established the requested I.V. Spinal precautions were taken, and the paramedics carefully took time to cover the child's nude body before removing him from the restroom.

Roy rode with the child in the ambulance, and the child did not regain consciousness while Roy was with him. At Rampart the Doctors examined the young boy. After x-rays revealed a skull fracture, the child was sent out for a CT scan to see if his brain might be bleeding into his skull. The doctors seemed relatively certain the prognosis would be positive, and Johnny and Roy drew some comfort from the news though it was clear to Roy that his partner was still upset.

After re-supplying their drug box, the two medics walked to the Emergency Room ambulance entrance in strained silence.

When both men had seated themselves in the squad, Roy turned to Johnny, concern visible in his gentle blue eyes. "You all right there Junior?" he inquired.

Johnny sighed heavily. Turning to face his partner he replied "I guess. It's just….." and he turned away from Roy and rubbed his hands heavily over his face and through his hair. "How can people hurt their own children Roy? I'll never understand it!"

Roy too sighed heavily. "I know Johnny. As often as we've seen it, I will still never get used to it either." And Roy turned the ignition key to start the squad's engine.

"That woman didn't even seem to care what she'd done to her son. All that mattered to her was someone had turned her in to the police. It's as if that kid was nothing to her." Johnny said shaking his head sadly. "How can people treat children with such indifferent cruelty?"

Silence ruled in the passenger compartment of the squad as the two men contemplated what they had seen on their last run. The child would likely recover from his physical wounds, but the psychological injuries inflicted would take longer to heal, if they ever did. Both paramedics were upset by these domestic abuse situations, but more so when the abuse victims were children. Children were defenseless. They were supposed to be nurtured and cared for. But this was how things should be, in a world that was perfect and sane. Both men realized, for various reasons, that theirs was not a perfect world.

"We took care of that boy Johnny. Today someone heard his cries for help, and we were there to rescue him from his hell." Roy offered comfortingly.

"Yeah, today…." Johnny replied quietly knowing there was no guarantee of what the outcome might finally be. If the child ended up going home again, as both knew he might, they could likely have the occasion to rescue him again. If he went to foster care... It could be a good thing or an even worse situation.

"I hope he'll be all right Roy. There really are no easy answers in situations like this." Johnny said sadly.

"I know Junior." Roy said with a heavy sigh. "I hope he'll be all right too."

Another long pause filled the squad as both men sat, alone with their thoughts. As he stopped for a traffic signal, Roy ventured a quick glance at Johnny's face. Johnny was slumped into the passenger door of the truck with a stormy expression, eyes fixed on some unknown spot through the squad's windshield.

The traffic light changed indicating Roy could proceed, and as the vehicle began to pick up speed Johnny finally spoke. "Ya know Roy, it's just not right." He said emphatically. "People ought to have to get a license before they are allowed to have kids. I mean it! Treating children like animals or worse…..it shouldn't be allowed!"

Roy knew his friend needed to vent, and so he drove quietly intentionally taking the scenic route back to station 51 in order to allow Johnny some extra time to cool off.

"I know Junior, I know." Roy said supportively.

* * *

><p>Anna and Abby spent that hot afternoon playing quietly in their un-air conditioned room. Their foster mother Sadie could be heard eating her lunch after she had evicted the children from the table. The reverberations from the television wafted from the kitchen and eager young ears picked up the noise of the Dorito's bag crinkling. The twins knew Sadie enjoyed the crisp corn tortilla chips and pecante sauce with her ham and cheese sandwich and coke for lunch, and imagined the sounds they heard indicated she was feasting on her favorite noon time repast.<p>

After completing her meal, Sadie's footsteps echoed through the house as she walked by the twin's room to go and get the mail from the box at the end of their long driveway.

Anna watched Sadie step out of the house, and when their foster mother was a few steps from the front door Anna bolted quietly through the house to the kitchen. Hastily she snatched open the freezer door, and grabbed two cold cubes of ice from the bowl in the freezer. In a rush she didn't notice she'd taken the last two cubes. She simply took her prizes and slammed the freezer door as she lithely sprinted back to the bedroom.

Anna appeared at the doorway with her trophies and quickly handed one of the frozen delights over to her twin. Abby's eyes grew wide with a mixture of fear and pleasure as she accepted her sister's gift. Both girls began to lick their frozen treat unaware that, finding no mail Sadie was about to enter the door.

The twins were accustomed to listening for Sadie's approach, and easily heard her coming back into the house. Not wanting to alert her to their secret treat both held the melting cubes discreetly out of possible view in their hand as they assumed a false conversation. Sadie barely noticed them as she passed the open door of their little room on her way back to the kitchen.

Sadie wiped sweat from her brow as she picked up her half filled glass of cola. Noticing the ice in her glass was all but gone; she opened the freezer and reached into the bowl for more ice. Her fingers found an empty bowl. She knew there had been ice left from the tray she'd used to fill her glass, and instantly she realized why there was probably none now. "Those thieving little brats!" she said as she slammed the freezer door. Instantly enraged she grabbed up the belt she kept on the dining room table as she angrily strode toward the twin's room.

Anna and Abby were savoring the last melting morsels of ice when Sadie burst into the room. She held the thick black belt folded in half at the fold allowing the buckle and rounded ends to hang. Snatching up Anna by the hair, Sadie began to swing the belt at the unsuspecting child. Reddening whelps began to appear on the child's arms accompanied by puncture wounds made by the buckle as the poor girl tried in vain to ward off the onslaught of blows. Abby looked on in horror backing away from the violent assault.

The second child's retreat didn't go un-noticed by the raging woman. She dropped her first victim in a sobbing heap in the floor and went for Abby swinging the belt haphazardly as she approached. The child felt the strap curl around her wrist as she attempted to protect her face. She felt the steel buckle impact her flesh and slam into the bones of her slender arms. She noticed with abstract detachment that the puncture wounds didn't really bleed much as they occurred. Abby really didn't cry out a lot, only backing herself protectively into the corner of the room where she crouched into a ball and covered her head with her arms as the blows continued to fall.

Anna screamed from behind Sadie begging her to stop beating Abby. When Sadie was bored with her task, she turned and began to slash the belt at Anna. During the entire incident Sadie could be heard angrily screaming obscenities at the children while Anna howled in pain and pleading. The blitz of sound was deafening to Abby who simply withdrew into herself, only vaguely aware of each blow as it struck her tiny frame.

After an indeterminate time and number of slashes with the belt, Sadie seemed to lose interest and stomped out of the room admonishing the still sobbing Anna that she'd better stop crying or Sadie would give her something she could really cry about.

The silence, except for the occasional sob from Anna, was almost as shocking as the onslaught of sound and motion had been. Abby slowly uncurled herself from the corner and began to examine her body for wounds. Long purple, greenish red streaks covered her arms shoulders and chest. There were puncture wounds where the buckle had impacted. Abby carefully licked at the small droplets of blood that had appeared on the wounds knowing that if she got blood on anything, Sadie would be very angry.

The scene they'd just experienced wasn't uncommon for the two girls. It happened enough, and now they approached one another to assure themselves the other was still all right. It was a customary ritual for them. Anna sniffed and ever so quietly stuttered out an apology to her sister because she knew it had been her fault they had been beaten this time. "No, I'm o.k. Anna. If it hadn't been for stealing the ice, she'd have probably found another reason." Abby whispered back. And both girls again began inspecting there injuries. It was a routine event for them after all.

* * *

><p>Vivian Slider had come to visit her parents. They lived in a small ranch house on the outskirts of Carson California. Vivian had been enjoying a pleasant afternoon on her parents back porch. The porch was shaded, and her father had installed a couple of ceiling fans recently making the east facing porch a pleasant location for wiling away an evening. Vivian was seated comfortably on a lounge chair enjoying a novel when the horrible screams and sounds erupted from what sounded like the house next door. She heard children screaming, and an adult hurtling obscenities along with what sounded like the crack of a whip or belt as someone seemed to be striking something or somebody repeatedly. Vivian rushed into her parent's home, and called the police. She hadn't realized her parents had ever heard such a disturbance before, and as a conscientious citizen, Vivian felt it was her duty to report what obviously sounded like domestic abuse.<p>

* * *

><p>The two children stood close to one another, continueing to inspect their wounds. Suddenly the twins heard the advance of sirens, and their eyes widened in fear and surprise. This was not routine, and they ran to the window to see where the sirens might be heading. When a police car, and a small red fire truck pulled into the circular drive of their house both girls stared in amazed, horrified terror. They had no idea what was happening.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note:** This chapter is rather long, but I really couldn't find a place to break it up while maintaining a consistent flow for the story. This is not the last chapter; it's just a long one.

**They Ought To Have A License**

**Chapter 3**

Johnny and Roy returned to station 51 in the late afternoon. It was a bit before three o'clock, and the two paramedics climbed from their rescue vehicle plodding toward the station's day room and a refreshing cool glass of tea.

Johnny retrieved two glasses and filled them with ice. Roy seamlessly filled each glass with cold tea from a pitcher he'd taken from the fridge. Both men flopped down in chairs at the table silently enjoying their beverages.

Engineer Mike Stoker was sitting on the sofa in the corner of the room. Glancing up at the two medics, he could guess by their body language and apparent mood that the run they had just finished wasn't one they were pleased about. "Bad run?" he inquired.

"Yeah." Both men answered simply and almost in unison.

Mike was a man of few words, and rather than reply he merely closed his book, and standing from the sofa he walked to the table. He sat with the two paramedics, and waited knowing if they needed to unload, he could linger and offer them a listening ear.

"Domestic abuse." Roy stated evenly. "A child."

Johnny said nothing, his gaze fixed on the ice in his tea glass.

"Is the kid gonna be all right?" Stoker asked.

Finally Johnny spoke "Yeah, this time." He said.

All three men understood the issue before them. Children caught in violence had little recourse. If the state placed them in foster care, sometimes it turned out to be a better situation. But all three knew that occasionally foster "care" was a misnomer. Because the state paid people to foster children, sometimes those with less than pure intent ended up being foster parents. The hapless souls ending up with mercenary foster parents often suffered more than they would have in whatever unpleasant situation they might have been experiencing previously.

"That's rough guys. I'm sorry to hear it." Mike commiserated. There really was little else to say. They all knew the reality of the situation. It was frustrating, at the very least. "But you did get the boy out of the danger zone for now at least." Mike said.

"Yeah…." Johnny said softly.

The conversation was interrupted when the alarm and klaxon sounded sending the squad to yet another child down call, only this time the dispatcher said "children down". With heavy hearts, the two paramedics dashed for their rescue squad as Mike acknowledged the transmission and completed the call slip which he handed off to Roy.

After glancing at the slip, Roy turned to Johnny as he passed the paper on. "You up for this Johnny?' he inquired. The last run had been intense for both men, but Roy realized by his partner's demeanor it had been particularly difficult for Johnny.

Steeling himself for what might be awaiting at the next scene Johnny looked at Roy and nodded affirmatively before directing Roy to turn right onto 223rd street.

The drive was twelve minutes long as the address for the call was in a more rural area of Carson, and on the edge of station 51's response area. At Johnny's direction, Roy turned right onto the street at long last. On one side of the road was a large undeveloped field across which one could view the bridges of a highway intersection. The other side of the avenue held only a few homes which were set fairly far back on lots of about an acre in size. The homes were modest in dimension, and Johnny guessed there were probably highway right of way issues that caused the houses to be placed further back from the small road.

"There it is, on the right." Johnny said as he pointed at the brick and frame house sitting at the bottom of the hill. Roy turned the squad into an empty circle drive just as an L.A. County Sheriff's squad car drove into the circle drive from the other direction.

Bringing the vehicle to a hasty stop, and cutting the siren, Roy looked around at the home. The lot and house were immaculately kept with many varieties of flowers in absolutely weed free beds and a neatly mown and edged yard. The front of the home was lined by what looked to be a screened in sun porch.

Roy and Johnny leapt from their rescue squad and hurried to the side compartment where they retrieved their Biophone and drug box. The deputies jumped out of the squad car, and both pairs of uniformed men met between the vehicles.

"What have we got?" Johnny inquired of the two officers.

"The neighbor's daughter called reporting what she described as the sounds of screaming children, and what she thought might be repeated instances of someone or something being struck." One of the deputies replied.

Both paramedics nodded grimly, and all four men quickly turned to walk toward the house.

The sound of approaching sirens had called Sadie away from her angry ruminations in the kitchen where she had retreated after handling those thieving brats. She wondered why it sounded like the sirens she had heard coming down her usually deserted street had seemed to silence very near her own home. Perhaps the neighbor's were sick or something. Curiously Sadie rushed through her home, out the front door onto the sun porch. Her jaw dropped in amazement when she saw four uniformed men striding deliberately toward her front door.

Johnny's senses were in overdrive and he quickly spotted the petite brunette women as she exited the house's front door. "Roy, looks like someone's home." He said softly, gesturing with his eyes toward the woman who now stood behind the screen door of the sun porch watching the men approach.

The two sheriff's deputies took over leading the group of men as they neared the woman.

"Hello mam, I'm Deputy Rogers." Said the shorter of the two deputies to the dark haired women whose piercing brown eyes were now following the four men's every move with keen distrustful interest.

Sadie smiled at the men replying with "Hello officer. I'm Sadie Jones. How can I help you gentlemen today?"

"Well Mrs. Jones, we had a report of some trouble here, and we'd like to check it out." Deputy Rogers said.

"Trouble?" Sadie questioned raising a carefully sculpted brow. "There's been no trouble here officer."

"Mrs. Jones, could I get you to step out of the house please?" The deputy requested, though it was arguably a command rather than a request.

Sadie was truly confused it seemed, but she unlatched the screen door, and stepped from the house as she had been directed.

"Is there anyone else in the house Miss?" Deputy Rogers inquired.

"No, no one except for my twin girls." Sadie replied sweetly.

But as she answered the peace officer Sadie began to eye the two men in the light blue uniform shirts. She looked at the yellow patch on their sleeves, and noting it indicated the two were paramedics she had a sudden moment of insight. Paramedics treat injuries. Had someone called the Sheriff on her after hearing those brats screaming?

As Sadie's epiphany arrived, the second sheriff's deputy latched onto her upper arm, and drew her firmly further away from the house. His grasp on her arm was at the very least firm, and she began to struggle realizing the other three men were about to enter her home.

"Hey! Let go of me!" She protested. "You can't go into my house without my permission!"

Yes Mam, we can if we suspect there might be injured victims in need of assistance." The second peace officer replied politely while maintaining his firm grip on the petite woman's arm.

After using a hand held radio to call for back up, Deputy Rogers directed the paramedics to remain on the sun porch while he checked out the house. After a quick but thorough search, and satisfied only the two girls he'd seen in the room just inside the front door were the only occupants of the home the deputy beckoned the paramedics to enter the home.

Johnny and Roy stepped inside the dimly lit living room of the house. Though modest, the home's interior like the exterior was well kept and extremely tidy. Just inside the front door the paramedics noticed a built in bookshelf, and a doorway. The law enforcement officer had indicated the children they were looking for could be found in the first room to their left, and Johnny cautiously stepped down a single step into the room. Looking around he noticed the space was about the size of a single car garage, with a tiled floor, a single desk, one chair, a double bed and chest of drawers. There were no decorations adorning the wall, and dull brown drapes hung at the open windows.

Inside the room, hovering near the chest of drawers Johnny saw two pale thin girls clad in shorts and tank tops. The two girls stared up, open mouthed at the tall, slender medic as they attempted to back as far away from him as they could get.

Turning quickly to glance over his shoulder at his partner Johnny softly said "Roy, they're in here. Take it slow and easy, o.k. They look pretty shook up."

Anna and Abby slowly stepped back as the tall dark haired man stopped in the doorway to speak to someone behind him. After he had spoken, the man turned warm brown eyes on the girls. He first stepped slowly toward them, and after a few steps he stopped a couple paces from the pair where he knelt on one knee. Smiling warmly the man looked into each of the girls eyes and said in a soft kind voice "Hey there ladies. I'm Johnny."

While Johnny knelt in front of the twins, Roy took the single step down into the bedroom. Anna and Abby at first looked at Johnny when he greeted them, and then they both saw the tall husky sandy haired man following the other man into their room.

Johnny noticed, if it were possible, the girls large eyes grow even larger as they looked away from him to Roy. Gesturing with his thumb in Roy's direction Johnny said "and this guy is my partner Roy." And he again smiled warmly at the two children.

Roy saw the terror in the girl's eyes, and could only imagine how it might be for them to find two uniformed men approaching them in their own bedroom. Smiling gently Roy said "Hello girls. We are not here to hurt you, o.k. We just want to make sure you are all right." He continued soothingly as he stopped walking in order to give the frightened children a chance to become accustomed to the men's presence.

The paramedics each instinctively began a visual appraisal of their new patients. Both Johnny and Roy could see the two children were injured. By now deep purple lines of bruising were clearly visible on the skinny arms of both girls.

Johnny again smiled, this time using his most charming Gage crooked grin. "What are your names ladies?" he inquired as he sat the drug box he'd been carrying down on the floor in front of him.

At first there was no response from the twins. They only stood in stunned silence observing the two uniformed men. Anna noticed their shiny silver badges, and immediately guessed they must be police men sent by Sadie to take the two girls away for stealing. Stepping protectively in front of Abby, Anna looked at Johnny with all the bravery her little body could muster and said "She didn't do it, I did. I only stole the ice 'cause it's real hot, and we were thirsty. I only took one piece for each of us. Honest!" and as she spoke tears began to trickle down her face.

"Please mister, don't take Abby to jail. I was the one who stole the ice. Take me." Anna pleaded and her lower lip began to tremble as the sobs she'd been attempting to suppress began to escape.

Johnny's heart broke at the child's confession. It took every ounce of professionalism he had to continue, but he knew the twins needed help and he didn't have time to crumble right now. He knew there would be plenty of time later for considering this run, and after taking a deep calming breathe Johnny reached out a hand toward the now sobbing child.

"Oh sweetheart, we are not policemen, we're fireman. We're not here to arrest you for anything darlin'. We only want to check and make sure you and your sister are all right." Johnny soothed the frightened girl, and he gently placed his hand on the child's thin shoulder.

Anna flinched at Johnny's touch. Her shoulder hurt from where she'd been hit, and after so long with the only adult touch she'd know coming connected with violence, the child was unsettled by the physical contact of this dark haired man's hand.

Johnny didn't miss the child's reaction to his touch, and though he had no desire to frighten her, Johnny knew he and Roy needed to look after both girls' injuries. The children and paramedics were going to have to get up close and personal in a short amount of time, and so Johnny didn't remove his hand from the girl's shoulder, rather he used his touch to gently draw her body toward where he knelt on the floor.

Smiling encouragingly at the child Johnny used the fingers of his free hand to gently raise her downcast chin so she would be looking into his eyes. "What's your name princess?" He soothingly inquired again.

Anna heard his words, and momentarily Johnny saw confusion flit through her huge violet eyes. He misinterpreted her confusion figuring she hadn't understood his question, and said again "Can you tell me your name little one?"

Though Anna had been called many things, princess was not one of them. The bewilderment Johnny had seen came from the girl hearing this good looking man address her as princess. "I..I'm Anna…. And I'm not really a princess. Why did you call me that?" she asked as he drew her to him slowly.

The paramedic smiled warmly though his heart ached as he responded "well Anna, you look like a princess to me." And he lightly tweaked her nose as he moved his hand away from her chin.

Behind Johnny Roy too had dropped to one knee, and opened the Biophone where he could be heard contacting Rampart. As he spoke, Roy observed his partner and the little girl. _"Let's hear it for that old Gage charm! Women of all ages just can't resist him. Thank God!"_ he thought realizing calming the two girls down would make the upcoming ordeal much more pleasant for everyone involved.

Johnny allowed his free hand to fall and gently capture the child's wrist where he quickly took a pulse. Still smiling and maintaining eye contact he began to examine her bruised and marked arms, then shoulders, and then he began to palpate her skull. As his experienced fingers ghosted over her head Anna suddenly jerked away from his probing touch with a little cry of pain. He'd felt the lump on the right side of her head where Sadie had whacked her with the handle of the knife earlier in the day.

Replacing his hands in her hair again he apologized "Sorry Anna, I didn't mean to hurt you. I promise to be really easy, but I need to look at that little place on your head again, o.k." he smiled at her as he continued his palpations.

Roy had finished his dialogue with Rampart, and the hospital was now standing by awaiting the paramedics report. Roy watched as his partner was slowly charming Anna into being examined. Glancing over Anna's shoulder Roy studied the other child who had not spoken, only standing with her back against the edge of the bed as far away as she could possibly get from Johnny without going around him to escape the room.

Roy moved up just behind Johnny, and reaching out slid the drug box over so that he could open it. As he opened the box Roy extricated a stethoscope and pediatric B.P. cuff and inconspicuously handed the items to his partner who was now ready for them.

Anna's attention had been drawn away from Johnny's probing fingers by Roy's approach. She watched the man open the box, and saw him rummaging around in it. When she saw the items he withdrew, she was curious about them. When Roy handed the stethoscope and cuff to his partner, Anna looked at Johnny curiously asking "What are those for?"

Slipping the stethoscope around his neck, Johnny unraveled the cuff as he answered Anna. "Well Anna, these are the things I'll need to check your blood pressure. Do you know what that means?"

"You mean like they do when we go to see the doctor?" She asked shyly?

"Yep, just like that. It won't hurt, I promise." He said as he fitted the cuff around her emaciated upper right arm. After placing the ear pieces of the stethoscope in his ears, Johnny proceeded to take the little girl's blood pressure. When his task was complete Johnny turned to Roy and listed the child's vitals. Roy eased back over to the Biophone, and quickly noted the numbers on the pad he'd left in the lid of the case.

As Johnny examined Anna, again Roy's attention turned to the other twin. Though Anna seemed more relaxed, and thoroughly entranced by Johnny's charm, Abby hadn't seemed to respond at all. Her eyes darted nervously around the room, and Roy could see by her posture she was alert, and possibly ready to bolt.

Abby was terrified. She remembered what Mother had told the girls about what would happen to them if people from the state came to take them away. Mother had said they took naughty children away to hospitals where they would lock them up. She'd told the girls if they were ever taken away from home by people from the state, the children would have no choice but to follow orders. Mother had spoken of the indignities perpetrated on hapless children when the county workers took them away to hospitals where they'd be stripped of their clothing and used for experimentation.

These two men wore patches on their arms that bore what Abby knew was a medical insignia. Abby had heard the blond haired man identify them as "County 51." when he had begun to speak into the little phone in the orange case. They were with the county, and Abby knew no matter how nice the men were, they'd probably be taking the girls away someplace where who knows what would be done to them.

As Abby observed the dark haired man and Anna, Abby couldn't help but wonder how Anna could be taken in by him. He was obviously just being nice to her sister to get Anna to do whatever he wanted.

Abby stood carefully watching, and as Anna and the man called Johnny talked, Abby saw her chance. Quickly she sprinted past the man as she ran for the door. But Abby had forgotten about the other man. As she slipped by Johnny, she felt herself caught in a pair of strong arms.

"Easy there little miss." A soothing voice said as she felt herself lifted from the floor. "Where are ya goin'?"

Terrified violet eyes turned to look into crystal blue ones as the child realized she'd been caught by the blond haired paramedic. She closed her eyes and froze, stiffening her body in his grasp, willing herself to be any place but where she was.

Johnny felt Abby slip by him, brushing his arm as she scooted by. He also heard Roy intercept her, and while the exchange was taking place Johnny distracted Anna by offering to show her the Biophone. Reaching the place on the floor where the radio was assembled, Johnny picked up the slip of paper where Roy had written Anna's vitals. "Come on over here and stand close to me Anna" he said as his arm encircled her small waist. "If you listen, you'll be able to hear the Doctor on the other end speaking. And look here…" he pointed at the power level dial on the unit. "If you watch, you can see the energy our radio uses to send the words out to the hospital."

Picking up the receiver Johnny relayed Anna's vitals and list of injuries to Rampart. He mentioned the child's emaciated body, and dry skin. The order he received for an I.V. wasn't unexpected, but Johnny cringed inwardly as he wondered exactly how he would accomplish the task with what would likely be an extremely skittish patient. "10-4 Rampart, IVD5W for first victim. Rampart, we may have compliance issues as the victim is fairly traumatized." Johnny reported in calm cool medical babble so the child standing close to him would likely not understand the conversation. The order for diazepam was not much of a surprise to the medic, and he sighed heavily as he confirmed with a "10-4 Rampart."

Glancing over to where Roy had now seated himself in the room's only chair with the other twin on his lap, Johnny watched as Roy quickly did an initial survey on the now unresisting and unresponsive child. Though Abby hadn't spoken to Roy, as he carefully examined her injuries Roy spoke soothingly to Abby. "I'm just gonna check you out here Abby. We want to make sure you are all right. You don't have to be scared of me. I'm here to help you." He crooned as he swiftly worked.

Quickly looking at Johnny, Roy listed Abby's vitals. Johnny leaned over while still holding Anna and allowed Roy to slip the stethoscope he wore from around his neck. Johnny handed Roy the B.P. cuff. Next Johnny watched as Roy stood from his seat, and turned gently depositing Abby on the chair.

When Roy stood with Abby, Anna's attention was riveted on the duo instantly. Johnny felt her little body stiffen in his grasp and turned to direct a warm comforting smile on the little girl. "Roy is going to check your sister's blood pressure like I did for you." He explained softly.

"Oh" Anna said, her eyes following Roy's every move.

When the process was complete Roy passed on the vitals, and Johnny again spoke with Rampart receiving much the same medical orders he had for Anna. "IVD5W, 5mg diazepam IM. 10-4 Rampart." Johnny replied aloud allowing Roy to hear the orders too.

Johnny's brown eyes sought out Roy's blue ones then. _"This is gonna suck! I never wanted to be the guy who had to sedate a scared kid. I have been right where these girls are, and I do not want to be like one of those smiling nurses who did the same thing to me when I was a child." _Johnny thought as his eyes held Roy's.

Though Roy couldn't hear Johnny's thoughts, he could easily see in his friend reluctance. Roy guessed Johnny's reticence had something to do with sedating the girls, and though he shared some of the feeling, Roy knew it would be the best thing for the girls as today for them was only likely to get more invasive. The light tranquilizer would likely help take the edge of the events Roy realized would follow the children's arrival at Rampart.

Roy smiled slightly at Johnny. "Want me to take care of that Junior?" he offered hoping to ease Johnny's mind.

Drawing his lips into a thin line Johnny shook his head slightly then smiled brightly as he turned to Anna. "Hey there princess, how bout you go have a seat up there with my partner and your sister while I dig around and find some things real quick?" he said.

Anna looked at Johnny, somehow sensing his unease. "Are you all right Johnny?" she inquired.

Johnny's eyes and expression softened a little as he replied "yes princess. I'm just thinking about something that happened to me when I was little, and I was worried a little for you and your sister right then is all."

He had released Anna and turned to retrieve the drug box as he spoke. Instead of walking over to sit with Roy, Anna followed Johnny over to the drug box.

"What were you thinkin' about then? You looked so sad for just a second." She asked.

He gazed into those violet eyes, and there was no way he could lie to this brave little girl. "I was thinkin what a brave young lady you are, and because I've been through a day or two like the one you and Abby had today, I wondered how you would be after the adventure that still awaits you today." Johnny replied as he found two syringes, and a vial of diazepam.

"What do you mean you had days like today Johnny? Did you have a foster mother too?" Anna asked, somewhat surprised to hear this man might have been in her shoes at some point in the past.

Johnny began to fill the syringes as he talked to Anna. "Yes sweetheart, I had several foster mothers. Some of them were nice, and well…..some of them weren't" he said.

"Oh" she said as her eyes followed his actions. "So what is gonna happen to us today?" she said suddenly.

Johnny had filled and capped the syringes, and he set them aside as he began to assemble the I.V.'s. Pausing he looked up into the girls eyes and replied "Well, first you and me and Abby are gonna take a ride in an ambulance. That'll probably be sort of cool 'cause we'll have 'em go with lights and sirens." He said smiling warmly at the girl while he completed his task.

"Won't that be scary?" Anna asked, her eyes widening.

"No, it shouldn't be. Roy and I have done it lots, and it's really sort of exciting and I'll be with you the whole time." He said as he gathered the supplies needed for his upcoming procedures.

"Hmmm…" Anna said as she thoughtfully considered what he had said. "K. I guess it could be sorta neat." She finally concluded. "Then what will we do?"

"Well, you are going to Rampart to meet some friends of mine. There'll be lots of lights and noise and I was sort of worried it might be sort of scary for you and Abby." Johnny said as he now sat on his heels in front of the girl.

She listened to him and stood quietly for a minute. "What'll happen after Johnny?" she said. "Will they make us leave Mother and never come back?"

Johnny sighed heavily as he picked up one of the syringes he'd prepared. "Yeah, probably Anna. But they'll find you and Abby a place where you can have all the ice you want." He said kindly.

"Really?" she said as if she were somewhat amazed by such a notion.

"I hope so Anna, I hope so." Johnny said as he tore open the alcohol prep he had picked up.

The little girl watched him carefully and pointing to the things he had prepared asked "What's all that stuff for?"

"The Doctor wants you to have some medicine so you'll feel better as you start your new adventure today." Johnny replied hating himself more with every syllable.

"Yup, I have one of these for you, and one for Abby." Johnny said holding up one syringe and handing Roy the other along with the opened alcohol prep.

Abby had listened to the man as he talked with her sister, and finally she spoke. "What is that?" and she gestured toward the syringe Roy now held.

Following Johnny's lead, Roy said "this is a little medicine that will help you calm down some so you can enjoy your ambulance ride without being scared."

"Is it a shot?" Abby asked. She'd had shots at the doctor's office before, and though really not wild about the concept, she wasn't afraid of needles.

Roy smiled at the obviously intelligent little girl. "Yes it is. You're not afraid of needles are you?" he questioned as he found a spot on her deltoid for the injection and cleaned the site with the swab.

Abby shrugged, and then looked into the man's kind blue eyes. "Will it hurt?"

Roy quickly pierced her arm with the small hypodermic, pushed the contents and withdrew the needle replying only after his quick job was done "Nope, no more than that."

"That was fast." The little girl said.

"He's the best." Johnny said causing Anna to look over to Roy. As Anna looked away from Johnny his needle too quickly found its mark and the deed was done.

While the medication began to take effect, the two medics talked gently to the twins. In a matter of moments, the frightened children were being strongly embraced by prince Valium. Roy and Johnny gently laid their charges down on the floor, and efficiently started the girls on the D5W which would hydrate and nourish the girls as their life changing journey began.


	4. Chapter 4

**They Ought To Have A License**

**Chapter 4**

While Johnny and Roy were occupied with the two injured children inside the house, outside the situation was beginning to intensify. The deputy's back-up arrived, and the four law enforcement officers took Sadie into custody.

Sadie at first feigned innocence of any wrong doing when the officers advised her she would be arrested for injury to a child. But the deputies persisted until the woman confessed to "punishing" the children for stealing ice. With Sadie's admission to beating the twins, an arrest was made, the law enforcement officers read Sadie her rights, and put her in hand cuffs. The angry and now restrained woman was placed unceremoniously into the back seat of a cruiser.

An ambulance arrived shortly after the sheriff's car, and the EMT's unloaded the stretcher from the back of the vehicle pushing it toward the front door of the house where the peace officers indicated the injured children would be found.

Sadie glared at the EMT's as they pushed their gurney toward her home. "_Those stupid little brats must be putting on quite a show_." She thought angrily. "_Really! They aren't hurt all that bad. I only gave them what they deserved. Those little thieves needed to be punished for stealing from me. Kids like those, the trash of society after all, had no conscience. Not like decent people. They had to be taught right from wrong!"_ Sadie's mind rationalized.

The EMT's entered the domicile, placed one girl on the stretcher, and wheeled it back to the ambulance. Johnny gently carried Anna to the ambulance with Roy clearing up the medical refuse, picking up their equipment and following his partner to the ambulance.

As Johnny carried his little sleeping bourdon toward the ambulance he was forced to walk past the squad car containing the child's foster mother. Staring unabashedly at the woman, Johnny didn't bother to conceal the rage boiling in his eyes. Sadie looked at the handsome young medic carrying Anna. To her astonishment, the man seemed to be treating this piteous creature with great tenderness. Sadie curled her lip in disgust as her eyes met his. The fiery anger Sadie witnessed in those dark pools stunned the unrepentant woman. "_What has he got to be angry about? I'm the one tied up in this car! And just look at that little brat, pretending to be hurt, letting him carry her out like that in front of all these people! Little whore has no shame!"_

Roy too caught sight of Sadie as he followed his partner out to the ambulance. He saw no sign of remorse in the woman's brazen stare. Reaching the ambulance, Roy slid the Biophone and drug box inside and gave Johnny a smile saying "I'll see you at Rampart." With those words, Roy closed the back doors of the ambulance, gave them the customary double tap indicating it was now safe for the driver to pull away and turning he strode back to squad 51 for the drive to Rampart.

Inside the ambulance, Johnny gently laid Anna onto the padded bench. The movement woke the dozing child, and she opened her eyes to look up at Johnny. "Where's Abby?" She sleepily inquired of the dark haired medic.

"She's right here beside you princess. Here, look over to your right." Johnny replied with a soft smile as he placed his hands on the girl's cheek, and tenderly turned her head so that she could look down upon her sister who was dozing on the gurney.

As Anna turned to look at Abby, she noticed the Mayfair EMT sitting in the captain's chair at the head of Abby's gurney. Slightly startled by the presence of yet a different man Anna turned back to Johnny saying "Who's that?"

Johnny chuckled and with a small grin he introduced the attendant to Anna. "Anna, this is George. George, this is Anna and…" gesturing toward the sleeping child on the gurney "this is Abby."

"I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance young lady." George replied gallantly smiling over at Anna.

The ambulance with its' precious cargo slowly turned up onto the road, followed by squad 51. When both drivers reached the roadway, they turned on the emergency vehicle's sirens and picked up speed. Inside the ambulance Abby who had been sleeping on the gurney, woke groggily as the gurney swayed with the turning of the ambulance. "Wh…..what's goin on?" She questioned with what looked to be mild alarm.

Johnny turned to look at her, and reaching down he gently grasped her hand while answering "remember? We are taking that ambulance ride I promised you. How do you like it so far?"

Abby sleepily looked around the compartment, then back at Johnny saying "www…well, it's sort of neat, but the siren is pretty loud…..and this bed thing moves around some….. ." Then Abby looked over at Anna who was lying on the padded bench with Johnny seated next to her. "How come Anna is riding up there with you?"

Johnny smiled at her, and gently squeezed the hand he had been holding. "Because I wanted you to feel special too, so we let you have the bed 'cause Anna got so much of my special attention while ago." And he winked at Abby.

The little girl giggled lightly, her mood altered by the medication she'd been given. _"He really is cute."_ Abby thought of Johnny. _And so far he's not lied to us…..yet. Maybe…"_ and her heavy eyelids closed as she drifted.

While the twins napped, Johnny took an opportunity to get a new set of vitals, and sneak a peek at the injuries concealed by their clothing. The bruising he'd noted on the children's arms was echoed on their shoulders, chests and upper backs. Johnny could easily make out the outline of the buckle of what had to have been a belt marked in purplish bruises on pale skin, punctuated by small spots of blood where the tine of the buckle had punctured the flesh. The monstrous woman who'd beaten them seemed to have been aiming for whatever part of those small bodies she could hurt the most.

The children's bodies were decorated almost everywhere with older bruises of differing shapes colored in brown, green and yellow. Some were marked in narrow strips, others in broader bunches. Johnny shuddered imagining what instrument would make such marks, and his mouth forming a thin tight line, he shook his head in angry disgust.

Johnny's rage was a palpable force in the ambulance. George, the EMT from Mayfair had also seen the injuries the little girls sustained. The two men's eyes locked, and each found some validation realizing both were outraged at what they'd seen.

George reached into a cupboard in the ambulance, and drew out another thermal blanket, handing it to Johnny to drape over the sleeping form of Anna. Johnny tucked the blanket securely around the girl, carefully bringing it up to tuck under her chin. The sleeping child turned her head slightly and her little cheek rested on the back of Johnny's hand as she snuggled into the warmth and comfort of the blanket, and human compassion enveloping her.

Johnny felt his eyes moisten and his vision blurred, while he left his hand where it was offering at least this moment of comforting human contact to one who so obviously craved and needed it.

XXXXXX

Roy following the ambulance in the squad had time to consider the events of the past few minutes. He was upset by what he'd seen. The memory of those two little girls shook Roy to his very core. Two innocent children who had obviously been terrorized and brutalized for who knows how long was an almost unbearable circumstance to consider for the family man. Roy couldn't help but think of his own daughter Jennifer. In another life or with some unforeseen circumstance something like this could very well happen to her, his beloved daughter.

Gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were a ghostly white, Roy shook his head as if he could shake away the memory of what he'd seen.

Then Roy began to consider how he'd seen Johnny behave with the two girls. Johnny had been so gentle and caring. Roy wasn't surprised by this, but he was astounded by Johnny's reaction to sedating their patients. In the moment when Johnny had caught Roy's eyes in a long look, Roy had witnessed what looked to be Johnny's aversion to sedating the twins even though Roy knew both men had realized the sedative would be needed given the girls emotional state and the indignities they would have to undergo at Rampart.

Though most medics would have been surreptitious in the injection of the drugs, Roy had witnessed his partner's transparency with the girls. Rather than hide the syringes while preparing them, Johnny had seemed to attempt to help the girls see why the medication would be helpful. Roy mused that his friend's honesty was admirable, though if Roy were truthful with himself he'd have to admit to having initially been a little skeptical of the tactic Johnny had chosen to employ.

Things could have preceded mush differently. Roy's mind presented visions of the paramedics having to wrestle two screaming already traumatized girls down for medication administration and with a shake of his head he attempted to dispel the image. The open approach Johnny had chosen had turned out to be perfect, and Roy still couldn't help but wonder how or why Johnny had decided to deal with the physicians orders in such a direct fashion with the children.

"_What was it Johnny said to the girls when he was preparing the injections?"_ Roy thought. Johnny had mentioned something to Anna about having days himself like the day the twins experienced today. And then there had been the remark about having several foster mothers, some good and some bad. _"Was Johnny ever in foster care?"_ Roy considered.

Johnny had never been forthcoming about the specifics of his family life or childhood short of some occasional comments about growing up on the reservation. The men of station 51 knew Johnny had an Aunt Rose, but Johnny rarely spoke of her, and they had never met her. Johnny had not mentioned having any other relatives, and Roy was designated as Johnny's next of kin. Roy realized he really knew very little about one very large part of his best friend's life.

"_As hard as this rescue has been for me, I am betting it was much tougher for Johnny."_ Roy thought. "_I'm gonna have to keep an eye on you Junior. It might be time for you and me to have a long talk." _Roy vowed as he stopped to allow the ambulance to back into the bay at Rampart. Roy took his turn, and after backing the squad into the bay beside the ambulance, he disembarked to go and assist his partner in getting their patients safely into the emergency room.


	5. Chapter 5

**They Ought To Have A License**

**Chapter 5**

When the ambulance backed into the bay at Rampart Emergency, Johnny took a deep breath as the back doors opened, and everyone prepared to plunge into the next part of this ordeal. Softly he picked Anna up from the padded bench, and passed the dozing child off to Roy who gently laid her onto the gurney two Rampart orderlies wheeled up to the back of the ambulance. As Roy laid the child down she opened her eyes groggily looking up at Roy. "Hey, you're ah…. Oh, what is your name?"

"Hey Anna, I'm Roy. We met back at your house. I'm gonna escort you into the building. O.K.?" Roy said reaching a hand out to grasp hers as his other hand held her I.V. bag aloft.

"K. I guess that's all right. Will Johnny take care of Abby then?" Anna said sleepily.

Johnny had stepped down from the back of the ambulance by now and he leaned over Anna gently patting her on the shoulder and saying "yep, I'm right here, and I'm gonna walk in with Abby while Roy goes with you."

Anna nodded as her gurney was whisked away with Roy in tow.

Johnny escorted Abby inside where Dixie directed them to treatment three and four, and followed Johnny with his charge into treatment four.

The two girls were met in the treatment rooms by a social worker for each child, and for Anna, Nurse Carol, while Abby got Dixie to supervise. The hospital staff knew these two little girls would likely be frightened at the flurry of activity taking place around them, and special care had been taken to assure the children would have an adult to walk through the process with them.

Both paramedics stayed with their charges, talking comfortingly to them and making introductions to various hospital staff members who entered the room. When the children were situated and each had a Doctor, Nurse, and Social Worker in attendance, the paramedics were excused to go make the squad available for duty. With kind farewells to the children, the medics left the treatment rooms, and met up in the hallway just beside the nurse's station.

"Come on Junior, let's make a stop in the lounge and have a cup of coffee. I think we've earned it." Roy said as he lightly draped his arm over Johnny's shoulder and began to lead his partner toward the lounge.

"Yeah, sounds good." Johnny replied stepping toward the lounge, and out of Roy's light embrace.

Johnny made it to the Doctor's lounge door first, and swinging the door open he stepped inside. Rather than stopping by the coffee pot, Johnny walked over to the sofa in the room and flopped down heavily. Roy stepped into the room and laying the handi-talkie on the table, he stepped up to the coffee pot. Withdrawing two mugs from the shelves above the urn, Roy filled both mugs, and turned carrying them over to the sofa where Johnny now sat, elbows resting on knees, chin resting in propped up hands.

"Here" Roy said handing a steaming cup to Johnny. "drink this. It'll help."

Johnny accepted the mug, and brought the hot bitter brew to his lips. Sipping the burning liquid his face twisted in a grimace and he said "aaahhh! Are you sure? This stuff tastes like it's been sitting here a while."

Roy took a sip from his own cup. "Ooofff!" he said with an equally unpleasant look decorating his features. "Yeah, that'll curl your toes. Oh well, at least it's hot." And he took another caustic sip.

Both men sat in silence for a few minutes, the act of sitting with one another offering some small measure of comfort to the shell shocked pair. Their last two runs had been real doozies, and both men needed just a few minutes to decompress.

Finally Roy broke the silence. "Boy, I tell ya…" he said, shaking his head as his mind's eye kept reviewing the memory of the twins injuries. "Ya know, whenever we get these domestic abuse calls, and they involve kids…. I know it's crazy, but I can't help but see my own kids in a situation like that." Roy again sipped his coffee as his mind continued to mull over the situation.

Johnny looked up at his partner. "You gonna be all right partner?" he said sympathetically. Johnny knew Roy pictured his own children when they rescued kids, and Johnny could only imagine how painful such a run would be for his partner.

Roy rubbed his hand across his eyes as if he could wipe away what he'd just witnessed. "Yeah, it's just….ya know. It's tough. When I think about it, there but for one twist of fate….I mean…..It could be my kids…ya know?"

Again silence reigned; each man sat entertaining his own demons.

"That'd never happen to Jen and Chris Roy. I wouldn't let it! You know I love those kids more than anything. I would never let 'em go to foster care! "Johnny said with conviction patting Roy's shoulder.

Roy smiled, turning to his best friend. "Yeah, I know. It's just….ya know, my mind still keeps running those worst case scenarios. Ya know how it is…" he remarked.

The paramedics again sat in silence, sipping their acerbic coffee.

Johnny kept re-playing the scene in that little bedroom. He saw bruised and broken children. He hoped those two girls wouldn't remember him as the guy who'd smiled at them, then plunged them into a drug induced quagmire. Unpleasant memories of similar experiences haunted his mind then.

Johnny's thoughts drifted back to an earlier time in his life. He remembered him and his parents riding in that old clunker Oldsmobile they'd had. They were traveling from the reservation to town for some shopping. It had been raining all day, and Johnny could still hear the sounds of the water pelting the car as they'd driven down the narrow two lane highway. Then the abrupt jerking of the car as Johnny's father had tried to avoid an oncoming truck, and they were tumbling and skidding.

Johnny shivered as he remembered realization dawning on his shocked brain when water began filling their car. The memory was so fresh he could still feel the iciness as it seemed to creep into every fiber of his being. Johnny's father had pulled Johnny from the car which had slid off of an embankment into a swift moving large creek. After getting Johnny out of the car, his father had gone back to rescue Johnny's mother. But the car had broken free, and after smashing into Johnny's father it had been swept down the stream carrying Johnny's mother toward certain death.

Johnny could still see his father lying on the bank of the creek, covered in mud and soaking wet the man lay bleeding and unconscious. The sounds of voices as travelers who had come upon the scene of the crash echoed in Johnny's mind. He remembered the whirlwind of activity that had followed. His father scooped up by the local funeral home and carried on a gurney to the waiting Hearse. The smell of leather and wood inside the passenger compartment of the Hearse as it sped the child and his father toward the nearby hospital. Johnny remembered being carried into the hospital behind his father's gurney, and the flurry of action in the emergency room.

But nothing had helped it seemed. The small boy had loitered in the corner of the room until someone had noticed him just after his father's body had given up on life. Johnny remembered cowering in the corner, terrified of the unfamiliar white faces clad in even whiter garments. Then there had been the pretty young dark haired nurse who had reached out to him, held him in her arms.

Unconsciously Johnny reached up and rubbed the place on his upper arm where as a child after that fateful accident he'd suddenly felt a sting. The nurse had held him smiling, and someone else had plunged him into a dark tormented sleep. When he had awakened, his life had changed forever. He'd never been offered the chance to say goodbye to his parents. Johnny had been whisked from the hospital, and a string of foster homes followed until he'd finally been grudgingly taken in by his uncle and aunt on the reservation.

Johnny shook his head as if attempting to banish the memories. Sipping his coffee again he looked around the doctor's lounge at Rampart. He felt another body bump his as Roy who had sat down on the sofa too gently nudged Johnny with his shoulder.

Turning his head, Johnny's tortured brown eyes were met with Roy's sad blue ones. "How're ya doin' there Junior?" Roy inquired with apparent concern. "You looked pretty lost in thought. Where were you?"

"I'm all right Roy. Just thinking is all. I wasn't anywhere, Just ya know…..thinkin" Johnny lied as he again sipped the wicked brew contained in the mug he held. "Aachhh….this is horrible coffee! What do ya say we go down to the cafeteria and get something to eat, and maybe some fresh coffee? I'm starved." He continued attempting to deflect Roy's attention.

Roy's blue eyes made no disguise of his disbelief in his partner's words, but he nodded his agreement to Johnny's suggestion of food and fresh coffee.. "Sounds good to me!" he replied as he rose from the sofa and turned grasping Johnny's hand pulling him to a standing position. Both men poured the remains of their coffee down the sink, rinsed their mugs, and after wiping them dry placed them back on the shelf above the coffee urn before turning and leaving the lounge.

After obtaining burgers and fries with fresh cups of coffee, the paramedics found themselves a seat at one of the tables on the patio of the Rampart café. They settled themselves and began to eat without speaking to one another. Johnny's silence told Roy more than a whole string of words could have about his partner's frame of mind. Johnny was usually talkative, unless he was upset about something.

After a couple of minutes of quiet munching Roy managed to make eye contact with Johnny and again questioned "You all right?"

Johnny sighed heavily as he contemplated Roy's quarry. It was nice sometimes to have a friend as perceptive as Roy, and then there was now. When someone was attuned to you, it was pretty tough to avoid openly dealing with things perhaps better left hidden.

Johnny knew there had to be questions in Roy's mind about some of the things from the previous run. It was also fairly obvious Roy's familiarity with Johnny had made it quite clear Johnny was upset. But the truth was, Johnny was troubled, and not really sure how sharing any of the stories of his childhood would be received in he and Roy's friendship. The last thing Johnny wanted was Roy's pity, and fearing with explanation he'd find himself viewed as pathetic, Johnny was loathe to discuss what he'd been remembering and feeling.

Lost in thought, Johnny didn't realize he'd neglected to answer Roy. The only response Roy had seen to his latest inquiry was Johnny's sigh. Again the lack of response spoke volumes. "Johnny?" Roy said raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

Johnny's deep brown eyes returned from their far away focus to his partner's concerned blue eyes. "Huh?" He intoned as he attempted to remember what Roy had just asked him.

"_He's upset all right. Now how do I get him to start talking?"_ Roy thought as he considered his best friend. "That last run was rough, huh." Roy offered, hoping to lead Johnny into the conversation they both knew needed to happen.

Johnny picked up his coffee cup and sipped thoughtfully. "Yeah. It was." He replied evenly.

"_Come on Junior. You know you need to talk about it."_ Roy thought, but all he said was "and…."

Johnny sat his cup on the table, and placing his elbows on the table he leaned his chin into his hands. "And….what?" he evaded.

"What did you mean when you told those girls you'd had a few days like they'd had?" Roy tried a new line of questioning hoping to draw his best friend into the discussion.

Johnny rubbed his temples with his fingertips, closing his eyes. After a few moments of silence he dropped his hands to his lap and looked over at Roy. "I meant what I said Roy. I spent some time shuffled around in foster homes. Some of 'em were all right, and some of 'em were bad. Ya know….people took in a kid 'cause they thought it'd make 'em look good to the community, or 'cause they needed the money paid by the state or maybe 'cause they were lookin for built in labor." There! He'd said it. Now Johnny looked at Roy to gage his reaction.

Roy listened quietly to the bit of information offered by his partner. Johnny had never revealed much about his childhood, and Roy knew what he was hearing was important. _"Oh God Junior! What happened to you? Why did you end up in foster care?" _Roy's mind was immediately filled with questions, and genuine concern for his friend. Carefully Roy weighed his reaction. Schooling his face into a kindly warm expression he encouraged gently "Tell me a little about it Johnny."

Johnny studied Roy's countenance. _"Hmm…not quite the reaction I expected. I thought he'd be curious, or feel sorry for me. But, he's concerned. I can see it. Well duh….Of course Roy would be concerned. He really does care about me, and besides he's a care taker. But I don't see pity, and I'd know that look anywhere. All I see and feel is Roy's concern for me." _Johnny thought, and he shook his head softly as a tender grin spread across his face. He felt a warm feeling envelope him as he saw the true affection and concern his friend spoke from with his request for more information about Johnny's past. _"You I trust. This is gonna be hard stuff to hear though Roy. Do you really want to know?"_ Johnny's eyes met Roy's as those thoughts flashed through his mind.

"I really want to know Junior, or I wouldn't have asked." Roy answered Johnny's unspoken question as his crystal blue eyes held Johnny's gaze.

"_Geeze….how does he do that?"_ Johnny thought as his grin broadened into a busted look and he ducked his head breaking eye contact.

"You do it to me too Johnny." Roy remarked. "Now, come on….tell me. I want to know."

Johnny shook his head laughing softly now at how well Roy read him, and silently acknowledging he too could read his partner. "All right, all right…." He said raising his hands in defeat. Johnny took a long breath and began his tale.

As Roy listened to the high points of Johnny's life unfold a myriad of emotions and thoughts flowed through him. There was the sadness of the hard times his partner went through growing up, outrage at the rough treatment, and awe at his best friend's survival skill. Roy listened to Johnny's tale with a growing sense of pride at how far his friend had come, and understanding of where Johnny must have been when Roy and Johnny first met.

After hitting the high spots of his history, Johnny stopped and sipped his now cold coffee observing his best friend's reaction to what he'd shared. Where Johnny somehow secretly expected to see pity, revulsion or withdrawal, he noted with surprise he saw only awe and pride? _"What? He's proud? Of what?"_ Johnny thought with a look of utter confusion coloring his features.

"I'll go get us some more coffee." Roy said standing from his seat and striding away. When he returned with two more steaming cups Johnny noticed Roy's gentle smile as his blue eyes met Johnny's.

"What?" Johnny finally exclaimed unable to contain himself.

"I was just thinking how lucky I am to know a genuine hero, that's all." Roy replied sipping his coffee.

Now very confused Johnny looked questioningly at Roy. "What are ya talkin' about Roy? I'm no hero. I just did what I had to for survival." Johnny announced.

"Yeah well, considering how much you survived, I'm pretty impressed with your success. With a background like yours, it would have been easy for you to feel sorry for yourself, and end up never really making a life for yourself. But you are a success, and I don't just mean because you are a good fireman or paramedic. You my friend have walked through hell, and somehow are still brave enough to care…to love. That takes some kind of special person. I'm proud of you Junior! Honored to trust you and have your trust, proud to know you and call you friend." Roy said with conviction as he saluted Johnny with a lift of his coffee cup.

Color stained Johnny's cheeks as he listened to his friend. Roy was one of the people Johnny most admired, most wanted to emulate. To hear such words of praise from his friend was almost overwhelming, and certainly embarrassing.

Looking up then into Roy's eyes Johnny saw something else, confusion? _"Oh yeah, he's wondering about the sedating the twins thing. I knew he'd eventually ask."_ Johnny thought with a heavy sigh. And he answered the unspoken question in his partner's mind with "When my Dad died in the hospital, I was one scared upset kid. The hospital staff sedated me Roy. I never got to say goodbye to him or my Mom. I slept right through the end of my wonderful old life into a new confusing and terrifying new one. I hated it! Hated the helplessness of being taken away by the drugs…." Johnny said,

"….and still do." Both men finished almost in unison. Then they both laughed at themselves.

"Well, that explains a lot Junior." Roy said, at first referencing the incident with the twins, but also Johnny's reaction just about any time he had to receive pain medication or tranquilizers or muscle relaxers of any kind. _"He doesn't like being helpless. He doesn't want to be unable to see what's coming."_ Roy pondered.

Johnny again spoke aloud what had been in Roy's thoughts "Yeah, I don't like feeling….helpless. Ya know, not being alert to see what's coming."

"You really gotta stay out of my head Junior. I was just thinking the same thing." Roy gently teased.

Still chuckling, the paramedics finished their coffee, cleared their table and left the patio in search of Dixie to follow up on their patients.

Dixie informed Johnny and Roy the twins had been sent to pediatrics for a couple days, then would be placed in foster care.

Both men left Rampart hopeful this foster placement would be a better one for the twins than the one they'd had to witness as they rescued the girls.

* * *

><p><strong>Three weeks later.<strong>

It was a few minutes before noon when Roy backed the squad into the apparatus bay at station 51. The day had presented a steadily busy shift and both men were hoping for a little respite in order to have some lunch.

"Hey, Marco is the chef today." Johnny said as he opened the squad door preparing to climb out.

"Oh good! I am hungry" Roy replied as he too climbed out of the truck heading for the kitchen.

The paramedics heard laughter and smelled the aromas of something delicious, spicy and cheesy before they reached the kitchen door. "Hey, that sounds like Mama Lopez." Johnny offered as he got close to the kitchen.

"Yeah, it does." Roy agreed. "Hey! Maybe she brought lunch!"

And both men quickened their trek into the kitchen. Just before stepping inside they could hear the happy chatter of adults and…..children?

Walking into the kitchen the medics greeted Mama Lopez. She hugged first Roy, then Johnny. "Hello boys" she said. "I brought you lunch. My new babies wanted to thank you for taking care of them, and we thought a nice enchilada and tamale lunch would do the trick."

"Oh Mama" Johnny said gracing her with a smile "That sounds incredible!" She patted him gently on the face as she turned toward the couch where Chet was teasing two toe headed girls saying Abby, Anna, come here and say hello to Johnny and Roy.

At the sound of their names, two rosy cheeked fair haired girls scampered over to Mama Lopez. Johnny stood slack jawed for just a moment, then realization dawning, he knelt so he would be on eye level with the twins. "Well ladies! We meet again." He said with a dazzling Gage grin. He extended his arms and hugged both girls at once. Johnny's mind silently thanked the spirits for he knew his time the twins had scored a great family.

Roy looked in amazement at the scene, and then turned to Marco Lopez with a questioning gaze.

"Mama has always taken in foster children over the years." Marco stated matter of factly as if it were a well known thing. "When social services called, she couldn't resist these two. So now the Lopez family has two new girls." He proudly announced and he beamed down on the scene of the two girls animatedly chatting with Johnny.

Roy smiled warmly at Marco, and stepping over to Mama Lopez he draped an arm around her embracing her affectionately. "You're terrific ya know!" he said softly in her ear.

"Oh no Roy, I'm just a mama. God has sent me these two little blessings, and I am grateful." She sincerely replied.

The End…..of my little tale.

The beginning of a new and better life for a certain pair of twins.


End file.
